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11 months - nursing strike and biting

It's been a tough week for my little guy. He's 11 months old and has refused to nurse for 6 days now. I work full time and pump at work, he drinks ~15-20 oz. of expressed milk while I am gone. Usually he nurses once before bedtime and 1-2x during the night. This past week when I've gone to nurse him at night he's started screaming and arching his back, like he's trying to get away from me, and me or my husband has had to give him a bottle instead. Given the amount he eats and the little time we have together to nurse, I am practically an exclusive pumper and have to pump around the clock. He's always been a fussy eater and we've had challenges from the beginning - OALD, nursing nonstop, breast refusal, constant fussiness etc..

Last night he bit me twice as we were starting to nurse, once at bedtime and once in the middle of the night when he was half asleep. Both times it was unexpected and I winced in pain/sucked in air when it happened. He's a sensitive baby and immediately started screaming upon my reaction, arching his back and trying to turn away from me. I held and soothed him, told him it was ok and tried to nurse again, but he bit again. I put him down in his crib and went to heat up a bottle of expressed milk. He took the bottle just fine and went to sleep. Tonight - exact same story.

He also hasn't been feeling good this week. He has roseola (had a high fever for a couple days and now has a rash). Also he's been refusing solids (usually a pretty good eater). In an effort to get him to eat something, we've been giving him more bottles than usual.

I'm really hoping this isn't weaning - I don't want our nursing to end this way. I have high hopes of nursing him at bedtime and naptime for months to come. But after 6 days of being refused, I'm pretty sad and upset and don't know what to do.

I've read many posts on here re: biting and nursing strikes, and also the information on kellymom. Does anyone have any additional ideas/thoughts to what could be causing this?

Re: 11 months - nursing strike and biting

I just went through something similar with my LO @ 9m. She bit me every feeding for 4 days straight, it was a nightmare. She only nursed well in the middle of the night and if she was sleepy during the day. But this went away on its own and now she hasn't bitten me in a while, though she is still not nursing "normally", or like she was before. I just attribute this to teething and try to work through it, and maybe that's what your LO is working through as well. I read that sometimes solids refusal can be caused by teething. I'm not sure what to recommend about night time biting, so I hope other mamas will chime in here! Hang in there

Re: 11 months - nursing strike and biting

Well, just a thought: Maybe he is starting to become an individual My daughter did something similar awhile back; she took a chunk out of my breast and smiled, and did it again; I thought too she was weaning, but she hasn't. She was also cutting a tooth.

Re: 11 months - nursing strike and biting

Well, I'm relieved to report that we nursed successfully last night and this morning, 3 times total with no biting. I didn't really do anything different, except go really slow and make sure he opened his mouth really wide before letting him latch. I also gave him a little Tylenol before bed last night but I'm not sure if that make a difference or not.

Crossing my fingers that the worst is over

Now only 1 more month left of pumping and we'll be at 1 year EBF, yay!